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Named after the first unfortunate suicide in New Haven, she was a sister in the church who got to close to the abyss. This part of the city is the poorest of the neighborhoods and has a high crime rate. It is North East of the city, a few miles from Murkwood cemetery and the Suicide Cliffs themselves.

You stick around long enough, and you'll realize that the world is a strange and mysterious place. Sometimes things defy logic in ways that no one can ever really seem to comprehend - like, for instance, how it was that a city was so infested with the supernatural that no one seemed to notice? How so many people died and yet the population never dwindled, or how no one ever seems to leave the city, even if they talk about it or claim they hate it.

Like no one hears the crack of thunder overhead, and the sound of shattering glass. Above in the sky of Brunswick sits a massive crack in what you might know as reality. It seems like a storm, with rain and lightning to boot - but within the clouds is the thunderous and shimmering crack, obvious to any fae eyes which might wander to the skies.

People wander through the streets, ignorant of whatever the crack may mean. Ignorant of the potential danger they were in. They laugh, they cry, they talk about their tedious, boring lives as though nothing else seems to matter within it; Never knowing that at any moment, they could be taken and their world could change forever. Even those who know, don't know what the crack might mean, or where exactly it is 'above' - only that it is there. One moment in one section of the sky, another moment in another, pounding with the sounds of thunder.

Perhaps it was moving with the storm, a strange fey element which existed solely to upset the nerves of those around them?

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Ruth would have once chalked not seeing the supernatural to a matter of faith or God's Plan, that there was no need for people to see these things unless he needed them too. Now...Ruth didn't know at all. The soul-eating uncertainty also had an odd sense of freedom about it. No one had all the answers, not even Him!

Ruth's browsing of the local wanted adds was interrupted when the first crack happened. She nearly spilled her coffee in shock, and her embarrassed looks intensified when she realized only she heard it.

She could run. She probably should run. After the events at the Pier, and after her talk with Allison, Ruth though was more aware of the strangeness of the world, and how dangerous it could be.

"Fuck," she grumbled as she took a deep breath and started going towards the source of the crack.

The crack itself is hard really to define the where it is, when so far above - were she still an Angel in his choir, she might be able to fly to the heavens to reach the crack and investigate. For now, though the best she could possibly do is get high - high enough to see where it might be and go in that direction.

The crack thunders, and the lightning splits the heavens, widening it. She realizes she's pretty close to the actual crack in the sky herself, and it looks not unlike the splintering of glass just about to break - though if the sky was going to break, where might the pieces fall - and who would believe her without calling her Chicken Little?

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Ruth looks around for a nice secluded spot before lightning herself *spends 1 Glamor for Kith ability activation*, so she could...scale a building and find out why the sky was threatening to split. Why was she doing this? She picked a really shitty time to ask herself this as she looked for a nice low roof to start on.

Ruth has rolled 1 success on an athletics roll

Crack! Lightning seems to leap out of the crack, unsurprising, to strike the ground. Crack! Fire, instead, swarms the edges of it. Finally, the glass shatters and the sky falls, leaving behind a gaping hole of thorns and winds that could only really be the hedge.

From it's entrance, two beings fall out - one is a large creature dressed in flame, it's face a skull with bits of mottled flesh burning and tusks the size of razor blades, wings long and tattered as well. It was bleeding gushes of fire and smelled of rotten eggs - sulfur - as it hurled to the ground with what appeared to be another Angel.

You know it by her wings first - golden things which wrap around her, protecting her like a certain armor. Light emanates from her in a shimmering mantle, crackling with the same light that seemed to have come from the crack not moments ago - her armor is beautifully plated, covering her body in a strange blend of armor-meets-fashion that shouldn't have had her legs so exposed yet was beautiful all the more for it. In her hand was a sword, blazing with fire like michael's own blade, and she's striking it - a blast against the other creature and another, before she leaps off it and floats back, landing on a fire escape and looking down where they had landed, in a nearby ally.

The truly miraculous thing is, for all that and all things like this, people still ignore the truth. They'd walk past the alley way like it was a man assaulting a woman rather than like two beings were locked in battle - one fae, one hob of unknown origins.

Ruth has rolled 3 successes to activate Light-Shy

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

OH FUCK! Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck, Ruth rapidly invokes one of the first contracts she ever learned, demanding that light bend around her and that the shadows take her in for shelter. She hid behind a short wall, trying to catch her breath and not curl into a fetal position from the sheer panic she was feeling. Was it Him, was He (or one who served Him) here? Or were one of those other gods that others tried to convince her existed? Who the fuck cares? Ruth stuck her head out a bit to peek at the living creature and the formerly living creature that was now a smoking pile of flesh, all of which was being ignored by everyone else. Lucky them, those lucky fucks, she thought.

If you look closely enough, you can see it - the thin echo of the contracts which layer the skin of the angel. The almost adamantine gaze in her eyes, the way the steel on her skin perfectly melded into a part of her, the way the blade danced with fire and the way she moved towards the creature like a dance - it's elegant, beautiful, and the creature in this case is woefully outmatched - the creature that she faces is far less elegant, more a strange ogre shape than anything else. It roars and charges her, before one last flicker of lightning captures the distance between the two of them, and she's on the other side of it. She looks to her hand, and gives it a small flourish, before sighing and looking around.

"Back on earth..." She says quietly, and the words that spill from her lips are magic. Oh, she was a beautiful creature by no doubt of the mind, but just those three words were enough to capture a moment in time - it is as though the world stops for a beating breath, just to hear her speak, and it is nearly impossible to ignore as she does. She looks around for a moment, the crackling of the Wyrd around her dimming just a bit, as she looks to the hob. "Guess I better clean this up before it's masters come and follow."

She looked up to the sky at the gaping hole in reality, and sighed - even as it seemed to close up above them, she didn't for a moment trust that that was not a newly formed gate (in the sky, of all places!)

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Fuck fuck fuck fuck...What the fuckkkkkkk

Eventually Ruth might form more coherent thoughts, but right now she was too busy being both terrified and curious. Mostly terrified. Her grip on her hiding spot tightened as she forced herself to slow her breaths and focus. Blind panic would only make her vulnerable, just like blind faith made her into what she was now.Ruth glanced again at the angel, this living creature of steel and fire. Right...she had done this trick a few times before, putting her senses into overdrive to look through and around things to find what was and wasn't real and why.

Ruth of course gets to look over the angel herself as she cleans up the mess that she's made of the creature before her - taking the two halves and shoving them into a dumpster. She breaths in, a soft gentle sigh as she looks over her hands, a slight pout on her lips given the amount of gore resting upon them.

The angel comes to life under her senses, and Ruth can see the delicate beauty of the creature - the slightly elven tips of her ears, the almost universally drawing way her - currently cerulean - eyes light up. There is an edge of humanity there, sorrow lost for the dead soul that no kind one could ever truly mimick, even as she makes a motion that isn't a prayer as she knows it, but reminiscent. Golden rays of light flitter and call themselves the girls hair, but Ruth can almost see hints of a mask just outside of it, in the peripherals of her sight.

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Oh good, so at least she wasn't a murderous god thing, just a weird spiritual mutant like herself. Ruth felt a twinge of disgust and envy as she examined the ling, who had that pretentious halo of light and beauty about her, a mark of favoritism and pride or something. Conversely, Ruth was marked with shadows and distrust, both well deserved after what she did to escape. So what about her, did she escape, or was she released?

"Wait a minute. This looks like..." Her voice stops the mind from thinking with just the faintest of whispers as she notices her surroundings - it gets into your head in a way that rivals even the Keepers in their beauty, something that overtakes you, addicts you, and forces you to want to hear more. Passes right by Ruth as she looks over the place, a sharp gasp escaping her lips. "Guys, I know where we are!"

"No, No I recognize this place. I think this is Brunswick..."

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Was...was she talking to herself? Ruth kept herself hidden, still not really sure how to react. She could ask the shadows for a weapon, and...and...and then fucking what? She's not a fucking cop, she's just a kid who hadn't even finished high school yet, and was still wrapping her head around the fact that the world was older than 10,000 years old. In another time she'd pray for help, but now that was the last thing on her mind. It was all her...so...what would Ruth do?

Rose herself seems content to talk about the place, until after a moment she pause and then looks around. "Where? I don't see anyone... Oh!" She covers her lips, and then looks around, and then breaths in, until...

Rainbow hued eyes clash around the shadows which hid the darkling, trying to pick her out - but definitely looking at, or perhaps through, her.

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Ruth would get spotted, it seems! Inwardly she groaned, wondering what she did wrong. Well, too late now she thought as she stood up, with an awkward smile on her face. "Um...hi. Sup?"Right, act tough, don't give into the growing fear within her, she thought.

The Fairest of course begins to wrap herself in magics - she is a glorious vision to behold, the shining Emissary which stands at attention - her blade is sheathed, for it will do no harm, but the magic which rolls off her gives her an air of authority - one that, for most, would prevent them from harming her should the need so arise. Her voice, ever the powerful thing, says in a soft murmur, "Are you alright?"

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

The angel envelops herself in a robe of glorious light...and Ruth found herself not caring, or at least not swayed by the glorious display. At least in this moment, Ruth found herself standing tall and defiant against the once overpowering light. "Um, yea, since I'm not the one who bisected a...um...what was that thing?"

"Alive. Now it's dead, but I didn't go searching it's pockets for loose change so it's really only mostly dead. Hobs you know. Never really follow our rules, and that was a weird one," She smiles, and that smile shines as much as she does. "Rose. Pleasure to meet you!"

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

"What, no! No-no, what the fuck's a Hob?" Ruth stared blankly at the radiant creature before her that now had a name. A thankfully normal name, Ruth would have booked it if she broke out something like 'Uriel'. "Yea...pleasure. I'm Ruth."

"Hob. Little tiny weird little... Hedge things. Think little mini goblins, only with a lot more variety. I take it you a bit new to things then, far as the whole system goes?" She smiled and then said, "If you don't mind, I am trying to get my bearings anyways. Perhaps we can go somewhere quieter to talk where I can explain it more?"

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Ruth sighed as she prepared herself for yet another round of lectures that were the worst kind of lecture: the useful kind that had information she needed to know. She thought she was done with all that from Malina, but no. "Yea...um...I know a good coffee shop we could go to. Um...actual question, you do know what coffee is, right?

"Course I know what coffee shops are. They are horrible places to have a conversation though, everyone listens, especially when talking about private things. No, no - we're going to need somewhere less overt." She paused and then raised a finger to look at Ruth, "Wait aminute. How is it _I_ bust through the hedge and am explaining to you about it? Doesn't the order of this seem a bit reversed to you?"

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

"Look," Ruth explained curtly, crossing her arms with a sour expression on her face. "A lot of things about me are pretty messed up alright? Just...where, where do you want to go, because I'm fucking new to this town, this life, this...a lot of shit, OK? Not everyone went to heaven and came out pretty like you."

There is the sharp crack of an almost electric sound in the air, fizzing as Rose looks to Ruth and then said, "Uh... Huh. Well. Not all of us went to Heaven either. Be careful referencing other people's past and the changes they go through. Not all of them take it well. Come on. It's been a while since I've been here, but I'm sure the place hasn't changed that much, there is probably a few good places to hole up in Nelly's peak if you know how to protect yourself."

Ruth LeHayes

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Ruth glared hard at Rose but relented, knowing she'd hit one of the few nerves she didn't like to prod, though that hollier than though attitude was visibly grating on her. "Yea...sure, that sounds fine," she agreed to Rose's suggestion and the change of subject.

"Alright." She said, running a hand through sunlit hair. She reached over and tossed the sword to the side, near the trashcan. They wouldn't need it where they were going and it would draw attention - more than she did anyways. She starts to walk, and as she does she asks, "So how long ago did you get out?"

Rose went quiet a moment, and then said, "I..." She thought another moment, as though visibly trying to figure it out herself. A host of memories filled her mind, trying to fight for answers, before she finally replied, "Ten minutes ago, and Ten years ago." Rose, for her part, looked rather young - perhaps even as young as Ruth truth be told, so the idea of her escaping ten years ago made no sense - as did her escaping ten minutes ago at the same time. Then again, Faerie time was strange anyways, and she clarified, "My escape happened a few years ago. I'm sorry - my head is sometimes not very clear."

"Yea, I've noticed," Ruth quietly said, thinking about what she saw earlier. Ten minutes or ten years...Rose was turning out to be one of the odder lings Ruth had met, out of...5 or so changelings? It was not a large list.

Rose leads Ruth to one of those old motels - the kind of place you went into when you wanted a bit of 'privacy' though between the two of them the manager likely thought they'd be waiting for someone. Once she gets them into a room, she's willing to talk a bit more about things. "Alright. So - why don't you tell me what you know. About everything."

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

"Well...fuck..um...The story they told me was that I was abducted by something called a Fae, that I was changed and marked by my escape, and that I have a replacement living somewhere. Um...courts, contracts, kiths...glamor...all...basic education stuff I think. Mostly I've just been trying to find a place to live that's my own, you know? Trying to find...anything that's my own."

"Well, the replacement is more of a maybe than a surety, but yeah that's about the gist of it." She watched Ruth a moment, tilting her head, as an angelic wing wrapped around her tentatively. She moved to go sit on one of the beds, before stopping and choosing to lean against the wall instead. She looks to Ruth and said, "Who told you?"

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

"I know I have one," Ruth whispered as she watched a wing start to wrap around her, before the angel went for the bed, and then the wall. "Malina Bernard, mostly. Do...you know her? You sounded like you're from here...kinda?"

"Not particularly. I haven't been here in a while," Which was weird. No one ever left New Haven after all - at least, weird to Rose. She looked to Ruth, and then said, "Did you escape alone?"

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

"Yea." The way Ruth said it was filled with sadness and regret, and Rose might notice how the shadows around Ruth were black and inky, that she was a creature of the evening sky rather than of a noonday cloud. There's a story behind that why that Ruth didn't like.

Rose looked to Ruth a moment, and tilted her head. After a moment she said, "I think you and I are of differing opinions on what cool is. Still, there must be balance in all things - the word you are looking for is the UnSeelie Court - Other names that it holds is the Shadowed Throne, or even the Court of Winter. The Dark Ones."

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

"Yea well...that's me now. I mean, I've got nothing against the Seelies, is just...they remind me too much of who I was."Ruth looked at Rose quizzically. "What about you?"

She laughed and said, "The irony of that is that I'm against the UnSeelie for a similar reason. Except, they don't remind me of who I was - I was a girl, something he shaped me into. They remind me of the Keepers. I don't know how much you know about Them in general, but ultimately they are an entirely selfish set of beings, who care little about the people around them. They aren't necessarily evil - nor do they have a concept of that. But... They always lack the empathy to see past themselves. The Shadow Court... feels like the same to me." She shrugged and said, "But that's me."

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

"Yeaa..." Ruth sighed, not really sure if she wanted to go into why the Unseelies appealed to her. "I...I need some selfishness. It's complicated, though. Like, I get what you mean, but..." Ruth crosses her arms, wondering what all to say.

She raised a brow, and then said, "To every side there needs to be balance. The Shadow Court indulges in excess, and while most are said to be malevolent, not all are. In that same vien, not all Seelie are Benevolent. We were shaped in a way to believe that certain things had to fit a pretty little mold - and yet we broke from that mold and escaped. Some of us did so naturally - some of us made a choice, and no matter how we escaped, it left a mark on us we call a Seeming. Your court is another choice on who you can be - and ultimately, one that you can either find comfort in or change if you find that it is not you. It's a choice of companionship, a choice of attitudes, and sometimes a choice of which side of a line you stand on and whose got your back when the swords are drawn."

"I sound like a Pastor because I tell you that we all have to make a choice?" She laughed and then said, "Last I checked, the people at church don't want you to make a choice - they want you to willingly give it up." She shrugged and the said, "Doesn't make my point a poor one, even if it does sound like a sermon: I'd rather have someone that is empathetic to me at my side when the Huntsman comes than someone who'd stab me in the back so that only one of us got caught."

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

"I know. That's why I'm with the Unseelies. That was my LIFE," She growls. Ruth then looks shocked at her own growling, and steps back, taking on more red than grey now with embarrassment, and maybe a quiet fury as her fists clench. "Don't...don't fucking lecture to me about fucking choices, alright? Dammit, I'm trying to just fucking MAKE SOME." Ruth grits her teeth as she takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "I know you're right and all, and I appreciate it, OK? I...dammit I don't know if I like you or if I'm scared of you, alright? And not because of the whole coming out of the sky thing, which...was pretty cool actually, but..." Right, she didn't like talking about her durance either.

"Most people are both," She said very quietly, that painfully beautiful voice softly teasing the mind. She was a champion, a warrior, a slayer of Keepers, a...

Oh right. That was... something else. She looked to Ruth, and then said, "It's okay. I can tell, really - it's not hard to. Some of us remind each other of a little more than our past than we'd like to recall. It doesn't get better, the longer you stay out of the hedge. But you get used to it. I've never seen another Angel-Based fae before, so I'm a little surprised myself, despite the different roles I imagine were played."

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

"I never got a sword," Ruth smirked, trying to lighten the mood for herself, though again she noted Rose's voice change a bit. "So yea...um...same. I...I guess that's what freaked me out about you. I...I thought He was coming for me again, or for someone else. I...I think I ran towards all that noise you made because I didn't like the idea of that happening again. Thing is...I was an angel, you still are. I think...are you? I mean I know you're not...um...fuck."

"Am I an Angel?" She thought about it, and then said, "I like to think I'm what an Angel should be rather than what an Angel is." She looked to Ruth, and then said, "I used to be an Angel. Now I am the Host. The Durance changed a lot of me, but the escape changed just as much - if not more. Trying to find out who I am is a journey in itself."

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

"The...host? For what, those voices? Because in the ally you were talking to yourself. There's something to that?" Ruth thought about the possible implications of that, and tried to repress a shudder and the flash of memory she just got.

Rose watched Ruth a moment, and it looks like Ruth may have actually struck her. The silence that follows is deafening. She crosses her arms, and looks down, as though considering something, but she says... nothing to that. Just trying to find the words to say. It's strange - when she speaks, it's as though you can hear nothing else. As though the world stopped, the Durance might never have happened, as though time could freeze for the moment so long as you could hear her voice.

But the Silence that fills the room when she says nothing is like a dagger twisting it's way into the gut. Was she thinking of what to say? Hurt? Angry? Depressed? A mixed myriad of emotions flicker across those eyes - they shift from cerulean to crimson to magenta to a flash of rainbow colors, and the sunlight floats backwards. Her lips do not smile or frown, she just... remains quiet.

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Ruth's hand went up to her mouth when she realized just what she did. There was a shot of elation, that she finally figured out how to make this perfect creature shut up, but she wasn't the asshole Rose accused the UnSeelie courts of. Ruth just wanted to live and experience all the things she was forbidden from before, not be actually evil or anything. The Airtouched bit her lip, trying to think of what to say herself as Rose's eyes changed colors. Was that why she was still and silent? The colors, the voices, were fighting?Ruth took a deep breath, and decided to tear open a wound. "I...might know how you feel. In...heaven. My church...we were mashed together into one big cloud creature, hundred voices singing with one harmony. I nearly lost myself in their elation at meeting Him, even when he...never mind. I-when I finally tore myself free, I could feel their anguish as if it was my own." Ruth was shaking now, trying not to think too hard about it and wondering if it would help at all. She still wasn't sure if she liked Rose or not, but, she did try to mentor a young idiot like herself, and slew some weird creature thing that could have hurt someone. "How many of you are there," she finally asked quietly.

Rose remains quiet for a moment, and then explains, "When I escaped, I wasn't alone. Truth be told, I was the treasured of the bunch - not by him of course, but by the people there. A lot of them tried to protect me from the cruelty that the Kind One could give, sacrificing themselves over and over again for one torment after another. He seemed to like that - that they were willing to fall, one by one to his torments. And they'd try to protect me from his affections too - his gentle kisses, his saintly act, all a tool to crush a young girl's heart. He was god, he was the devil. Neither good nor evil just... telling a story at the expense of others. When I escaped, it wasn't alone. I had sisters at my back, more than I care to remember. We stormed the hedge, seeking a way out and... we weren't going to make it. So I pushed them forward. All of them, through the hedge. I knew he was behind us, but they'd taken so much to protect me - I wanted to protect them. I could feel him all around he - taking me, retrieving me but... I felt at peace. Strong. I fought him and... well. I escaped, to say the least. And when I did, the people I had fought to try to protect to escape were not there with me. And yet... they were." She looked to the back of her hand, and then said, "To answer your question, I don't know I - frankly, I don't remember enough to tell you. Sometimes a new one pops up, as the memories return, but they are all welcome in my heart."

Even if one body was not enough to house the souls of a hundred people, she'd bear that burden. The oddest thing is that she smiles - there is the faintest hint of liquid gold on the tips of her eyes, but there is a sense of happiness in the lack of solitude that made up Rose. Well, Rose and whoever else hid behind those eyes.

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Ruth wasn't sure if she felt like the lucky one or not. One the one hand, being a mash up of who knows how many people seemed like a horrible fate. For the first night after she escaped, Ruth cried herself to sleep in sheer joy at the silence around her. The night after that, she cried because all she could hear was her stepsiblings singing the song she taught them to distract the rest of the church.

If she could...if she could do what Rose did and take them with her, even as just scraps or whatever...maybe she would have. Ruth gulped as she looked at the golden tear on Rose's face, feeling her own tears starting to well up, though were they for Rose, or for those Ruth left behind?

"That's...pretty nice, actually," the Airtouched eventually admitted. "In a messed up horrible way. At least they're still with you, sort of. I think I needed the silence though," She also admitted, looking away. "So...well fuck, I guess we're both trying to find our own voices, huh?"

She shrugs and then said, "If nothing else, it gives one purpose. You escape, and you have to figure out what you want to do with your life. Do you want to live it, free as a bird? Do you want to fight against the things that took you? Hide from it? Purpose is such a hard thing to find - that's the real reason things like religion exist - because so many people can't find purpose, and so many people would take advantage of that. I, myself, find purpose in seeking out a way to make them whole again, while trying to piece my life together. We end up sharing the body pretty well, actually. Sure if you see me around you'll meet some of them. And your right - sometimes the silence is a much desired thing. But never being alone, with people you know you can always trust or confide in, is a wonderful feeling as well."

Perhaps one day they'd all be separate, and yet still together. If such a beautiful life could even exist.

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Ruth bristled at the mention of religion, even if otherwise she agreed with the fairest. The thought of never being alone though, like Rose...made Ruth feel a bit paranoid as well. Rose could trust her...other Roses, but Ruth was never on the best of terms with her stepsiblings. Hiding was tough enough to do by herself, the thought of a bunch of other voices distracting her was discomforting."What I want...is to do what I want, when I want. Before that, the only purpose I had was fulfilling Psalms 127 3 thru 5 and first Corinthians 14:34.

"Yea, fuck that. Not anymore, never again" she added with firm defiance.

Rose blinks a moment, trying to think back. Then gives up, and debates pulling out the bible they always had in the drawer. Figured it'd probably not be the best of moves though, so she looked to Ruth and said, "I um... is that like go forth and multiply or...?"

Ruth has rolled 2 successes on a resolve + composure roll

Ruth LaHaye

Wyrd (Low) | Presence 3 | Melodic Voice

Ruth didn't even hesitate as she recited the verses from memory. "Psalms 127, Verse 3, 4, and 5. Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court. And, first Corinthians 14-34, Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law."

Ruth sighed. "I was always good at sword drills. Father didn't even want me to finish high school, he thought it was a waste of my time. He thought I should be a good wife who would give my man plenty of warriors that would do battle for God and prepare the world for the rapture. I wanted to finish school because it was the only escape I could ever get. You...you got lucky Rose. You fucking bitch, you got lucky! You...shit! you...I had to fight my whole fucking church! I HAD TO FIGHT HIM ALONE!" A wellspring of tears erupted and Ruth turned away, and banged her fist against the wall."Fuck, even your God was merciful. Telling a story...fuck. Wish that was all HE did to us!" She punched again, this time harder. "I know I know, all of us had it tough," She grumbled, looking back to that perfect living creature of gold and beauty. Ruth's sky blue eyes were reddened with a tired bloody sun, her cloudy skin turbulent and wrathful. Her own tears wern't even golden, though they had a sorrowful tone to them.

"Lucky?" The voice shifts again, and there is the glare of crimson in Rose's eyes as the light bursts around her, her mantle striking like a thunderous rock, the air going still - it's all she can do to not punch Ruth in the face and keep punching. "You think that what I went through, what I still go through, is lucky!? Every moment, every instant of suffering, I have felt a thousand times over. Every pain my sisters went through, I have still feel. Every evil done, every rape, every torture, every rip of flesh from skin, every torn wing, every single nightmare, they all haunt me still. Every fight I feel the blade sink in - both as the one who sinks it and the one whose chest it's buried in."

She breaths in, and clenches touches her head, as her wings start to spark with a breath of flame. The flames swiftly die down, and she looks coldly at Ruth. "Never, ever tell me that I was -lucky- for what I went through. I don't care if yours was worse, it can be worse if you feel that way. But NEVER..." She clenched her fists again, and said, "I need a moment. I'm not looking at this rationally."

She slid down, and breathed. A cold, quiet breath, and then there is a shift - it's subtle of course and Ruth probably doesn't know her well enough to really sense the difference besides the lack of raw anger shown in her expression. She tilts her head, and then said, "Your right. All of us have it tough. I'd try not to compare people's Durances, at least not to try to say that someone's is worse or better than someone else's. You never know. Well - the greyskins know but I doubt they'd be so crass as to belittle someone else's experiences. I apologize for my sisters outburst. When speaking on these matters, everyone is vulnerable. Perhaps it'd be best for a change of topic?"

"Rational? What part of ANY of this is RATIONAL?" she clenched her fists and looked to Rose for a response, only to notice this shift in tone, stance, and the angel's expression. Ruth wasn't a total idiot (even though she felt like it right now). The new Rose once again consoled her, shielding Ruth from the holy anger of the one she insulted with such cruel, cruel words that made the airtouched glance for the nearest exit.

She knew better than this, didn't she, Ruth asked herself. Why was she twisting every knife she could find? Why was she tearing herself open in front of this stranger (or these strangers, if she's to be believed)? Sure, Rose may be a frustratingly perfect representation of everything Ruth thought she wanted and was even broken in a way that made Ruth envious somehow. How? Jes…fucking HELL, did Ruth actually MISS what she was?

That thought made the airtouched sunk to the floor as well, almost wishing Rose would just cut loose already and burn her away instead of once again taking that high road that all those Roses could topple from. She wiped away the tears and glared at Rose a bit more calmly this time, wondering about that constant choir behind those eyes."So. Which one are you? The patient one? I think you need the patient one for me. Unless you've got a sinner among you, or are you all just that selfless?"

There is shifts. The shifts are subtle, little things that wrap around her mask more than her mien but they are there, quickly changing the person who is wearing the body. She watches Ruth as she asks about their patience, and said, "I'd say that's likely the one you just pushed away, actually. The patient one I mean. But I'm certainly a level above the one that wanted to come out - had she, you'd be dead now. Her temper is a bit on the fiery side of things."

She stands up, moving in an almost flowing motion towards Ruth, and says, "I'm the Seer, and often the Diplomat when Rose can't be. My name is Cassandra."

Despite her better judgement, Ruth snorts. "Really? That would be my luck, wouldn't it." She sighs deeply and looks up at the new Rose, now named Cassandra. Still beautiful and radiant, still has a marvelous voice that Ruth would have to work for, and still had a soft grace to her every motion. "You're really trying to save a wretch like me, huh? Why? I would have left you behind, you know."Silence. Enough for seven years, it felt like to Ruth. Seven years of torment, earthquakes, beasts, and flying scorpion-tailed locusts."So Cassandra. Do you ever regret it? Saving her? Or her saving you?"

"I hope you don't think I'm surprised by that," Cassandra says in response to Ruth's statement that she'd leave her. "In truth, I was surprised that Rose didn't. I wanted her to. To leave us, to go. She didn't deserve to be in that place. Not that many of us did deserve it, but she less than us I think. I didn't save her expecting some reward. I did it because I cared about her. The same was for her. Why? Do you regret the choices you made?"

Ruth stared blankly at Cassandra. For such a beautiful creature, she was a moron. "YES. YES I REGRET IT! Look at me already, I ran to the shadows, I fell from heaven, I am my sin! I...I used my stepsiblings as a distraction, and then tore myself out of our body. All of that pain, confusion...anger, so much anger at this disobedient one and the ones she tricked." Tears came again, her voice wavering. "They beat them while I escaped, because they couldn't get to me in time. All of our pain shared as one and they didn't care at all. How fucked up is that, huh?"

Ruth stood up, eyes still locked on Cassandra. "If I could have taken any of them, I would have. If I could sacrifice my individuality so they'd have any chance of being away from that thing we were, I would have. But you know what, you know fucking what? They didn't want it. That bitch Irene and my dad had watched over them for their entire lives while I had the blessing of going to public school, they couldn't even imagine being away from them! They didn't want it...so they would have slowed me down. I did. So I had to. Doesn't mean I liked what I did."

Ruth took some deep breaths, trying hard not to rage about that bitch Irene and focus on the other fucked up thing she just noticed in Cassandra's response. "And another thing, let's just get this straight: NONE OF YOU DESERVED ANY OF THAT, OK? ALL OF YOU GOT FUCKED OVER! I don't even know if I LIKE any of you yet, but I can tell you none of you deserved that. Just like none of my stepsiblings did, not even my dad, the church...even that bitch. Come on Cassandra...don't talk like that."

More deep breaths, she told herself. Try to relax the fists. Don't be too aggressive, take a step back. And for fuck's sake, let her have a chance to speak. And don't think about how much Cassandra reminds you of people you used to know, including yourself.

"And yet if you could go back and change your past, would you?" She shrugged and then said, "A better question. Is there any point to regretting the past? You are so focused on sin, does the knowledge of that sin somehow make you a better person? Does it give you some cosmic, defining truth? Why should any of us regret the past? What good would it do? They'll still be there, behind that hedge walls through the gates of Arcadia. And you are still not strong enough to lay siege to those heavens. The world does not change without sacrifice, Ruth. You made a sacrifice, leaving Faerie - so did I. So did all of us. But I don't regret the sacrifices I made. I'd rather be here, bodiless, than there with a body. And honestly... I don't think you should regret those sacrifices either."

The airtouched crossed her arms with a frustrated look on her face, but she entertained Cassandra's questions. "Kinda. Sin, I mean. It makes me a person. It makes me free of Him. I get to be Me...who's turning out to be a really...shitty selfish person, but I'm still me. I've given so much of myself before I was raptured that these sins, these regrets, are all that I have now. That's my cosmic truth."

Ruth glared back at Cassandra again. Her fury was calming at least, but there was still a storm of emotions on her, the shadows on her face were still dark and vivid, almost dissolving her form. "And...Really? Really Cassandra? I...you know what, fuck, it's not that you're wrong about all that regret stuff. You're really not, It's just...really? Cassandra you..." How...how could she communicate these turbulent thoughts in her head? Ruth's hands went to her head, pulling her cloud-hair in frustration. "Argh. Why are you so damned perfect, you and Rose! It's not right! Look at what you're saying, you're...all...what's left of you?" The airtouched now looked at Cassandra with...worry? Confusion? "You can't be an Angel, alright? Your'e a changeling, like me! A weird one, sure, but you're all acting like you're without sin. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, Romans 3-23. I know you're not prefect, you can't be! Otherwise..."Ruth gulped at where that line of thought would lead. "There's being saved...and there's being remade into something none of you were ever supposed to be. Please...please tell me there's something balancing all this out."

"I act as though I have no sin?" She paused and then considered that and shook her head, "Foolish girl. We all have no Sin - have you not realized? Sin, by the nature you believe in it, is a lie - a lie constructed by men of power to wield fear over those too weak to think for themselves. The world isn't so simple that the rules of it are made by some higher power. Right and Wrong is not black and white - it's red, blue, green, and all the colors of the rainbow, and everyone has their own view on which colors and the prettiest and which colors damage the picture that the world is painted on. At the end of the day, only you can decide what perfection is - not some higher power in the clouds, not a book. You."